Politics and the Architecture of Choice

Politics and the Architecture of Choice
Author: Bryan D. Jones
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 252
Release: 2001-05
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9780226406381

Politics and the Architecture of Choice draws on work in political science, economics, cognitive science, and psychology to offer an innovative theory of how people and organizations adapt to change and why these adaptations don't always work. Our decision-making capabilities, Jones argues, are both rational and adaptive. But because our rationality is bounded and our adaptability limited, our actions are not based simply on objective information from our environments. Instead, we overemphasize some factors and neglect others, and our inherited limitations—such as short-term memory capacity—all act to affect our judgment. Jones shows how we compensate for and replicate these limitations in groups by linking the behavioral foundations of human nature to the operation of large-scale organizations in modern society. Situating his argument within the current debate over the rational choice model of human behavior, Jones argues that we should begin with rationality as a standard and then study the uniquely human ways in which we deviate from it.

Reconceiving Decision-Making in Democratic Politics

Reconceiving Decision-Making in Democratic Politics
Author: Bryan D. Jones
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 290
Release: 1994
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0226406512

Why are there often sudden abrupt changes in public opinion on political issues? Or total reversals in congressional support for specific legislation? Jones aims to answer these questions by connecting insights from cognitive science and rational-choice theory to political life.

Democratic Reason

Democratic Reason
Author: Hélène Landemore
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 303
Release: 2017-02-28
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0691176396

Individual decision making can often be wrong due to misinformation, impulses, or biases. Collective decision making, on the other hand, can be surprisingly accurate. In Democratic Reason, Hélène Landemore demonstrates that the very factors behind the superiority of collective decision making add up to a strong case for democracy. She shows that the processes and procedures of democratic decision making form a cognitive system that ensures that decisions taken by the many are more likely to be right than decisions taken by the few. Democracy as a form of government is therefore valuable not only because it is legitimate and just, but also because it is smart. Landemore considers how the argument plays out with respect to two main mechanisms of democratic politics: inclusive deliberation and majority rule. In deliberative settings, the truth-tracking properties of deliberation are enhanced more by inclusiveness than by individual competence. Landemore explores this idea in the contexts of representative democracy and the selection of representatives. She also discusses several models for the "wisdom of crowds" channeled by majority rule, examining the trade-offs between inclusiveness and individual competence in voting. When inclusive deliberation and majority rule are combined, they beat less inclusive methods, in which one person or a small group decide. Democratic Reason thus establishes the superiority of democracy as a way of making decisions for the common good.

Democratic Decision-making

Democratic Decision-making
Author: David Lewis Schaefer
Publisher:
Total Pages: 181
Release: 2012
Genre: Deliberative democracy
ISBN: 9786613643261

Democratic Decision-Making: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives contains eight essays by political scientists, all but one of them previously unpublished, addressing various aspects of the democratic decision-making process.

Democratic Accountability

Democratic Accountability
Author: Leif Lewin
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Total Pages: 265
Release: 2007-03-15
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0674024753

It is common for political leaders to claim they have no control over bad outcomes. Indeed, they often cite the arguments of political theorists and public intellectuals as to why: history rushes onward oblivious of human will; force and violence overcome political aims; globalization undermines the actions of national leaders; the bureaucracy sabotages their intentions; bad outcomes are often the unintended result of actions. In Democratic Accountability, Leif Lewin examines these reasons and argues that they are unconvincing. He makes his case by describing and analyzing counterexamples in seven cases, including the prevention of a communist takeover in Europe after World War II, the European Union's preventing another European war, and Margaret Thatcher's taming of the bureaucracy in Britain. In a staunch defense of the possibility for meaningful and profound democratic decision making, Lewin finds that, in fact, not only do political leaders exert a good measure of control and therefore can be assigned responsibility, but the meaning of the functioning democracy is that the people hold their leaders accountable.

Complex Political Decision-Making

Complex Political Decision-Making
Author: Peter Bursens
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 236
Release: 2016-11-18
Genre: Law
ISBN: 1315453525

10 The Ukrainian crisis revisited: response to Richard Herrmann -- 11 Politics, it has never been so simple: complex versus simplistic rhetoric and the use of hyperbole in political decision-making in the Netherlands -- 12 The challenge of complex decision-making: concluding chapter and discussion -- Index

Reclaiming Democracy

Reclaiming Democracy
Author: Albena Azmanova
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 243
Release: 2015-03-02
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1317693272

Democracy is in shambles economically and politically. The recent economic meltdown in Europe and the U.S. has substituted democratic deliberation with technocratic decisions. In Athens, Madrid, Lisbon, New York, Pittsburgh or Istanbul, protesters have denounced the incapacity and unwillingness of elected officials to heed to their voices. While the diagnosis of our political-economic illness has been established, remedies are hard to come. What can we do to restore our broken democracy? Which modes of political participation are likely to have an impact? And what are the loci of political innovation in the wake of the crisis? It is with these questions that Reclaiming Democracy engages. We argue that the managerial approach to solving the crisis violates ‘a right to politics’, that is, a right that our collective life be guided by meaningful politics: by discussion of and decision among genuinely alternative principles and policies. The contributors to this volume are united in their commitment to explore how and where this right can be affirmed in a way that resuscitates democracy in the wake of the crisis. Mixing theoretical reflection and empirical analysis the book offers fresh insights into democracy’s current conundrum and makes concrete proposals about how ‘the right to politics’ can be protected.

Deliberative Democracy

Deliberative Democracy
Author: Jon Elster
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 300
Release: 1998-03-28
Genre: Education
ISBN: 9780521596961

This volume assesses the strengths and weaknesses of deliberative democracy.

The Politics of Problem Definition

The Politics of Problem Definition
Author: David A. Rochefort
Publisher:
Total Pages: 232
Release: 1994
Genre: Political Science
ISBN:

At the nexus of politics and policy development lies persistent conflict over where problems come from, what they signify, and, based on the answers to those questions, what kinds of solutions should be sought. Policy researchers call this process "problem definition." Written for both scholars and students, this book explains how and why social issues come to be defined in different ways, how these definitions are expressed in the world of politics, and what consequences these definitions have for government action and agenda-setting dynamics. The authors demonstrate in two theoretical chapters and seven provocative case studies how problem definition affects policymaking for high-profile social issues like AIDS, drugs, and sexual harassment as well as for problems like traffic congestion, plant closings, agricultural tax benefits, and air transportation. By examining the way social problems are framed for political discussion, the authors illuminate the unique impact of beliefs, values, ideas, and language on the public policymaking process and its outcomes. In so doing, they establish a common vocabulary for the study of problem definition; review and critique the insights of existing work on the topic; and identify directions for future research.